After a total of 3 hours of practice, I am now permitted to drive my motorcycle to and from the beach. Formerly, the routine was that I followed pops down and then he let me ride around the parking lot. But today I managed to get the bike into third gear, and even did a whopping 40 mph for a little bit. And so far I still haven't crashed (or killed myself or lost a limb or become paralyzed). I executed some decent figure eights, too. All in all, I'm taking to the bike much faster than I anticipated.
My next major areas of practice are better shifting, and better control of the bike around corners while at speed (ie, slowing down in time to begin a turn (as one should not brake while turning) and shifting up and down on either side of the turning process). I also need to get sunglasses right quick, since at 4 o'clock the sun is at an angle that makes riding west impossible.
And I need a protective jacket and pants and boots, since going down at 40+ mph will suck bad enough without having to worry about road rash (and worse). On my regular bikety bike, I regularly do over 20 mph, and break 30 when there's a nice hill, and I know that if I were to crash at those speeds it would suck but be generally survivable. Cyclists deal with that all the time. But there was something about watching my speedometer click up to 40 today that made me realize I was entering a whole new level of pain should I crash at that speed. (At the same time, I saw a ton of people out riding today in very non-riderly clothes. I wonder if they're dumb or if I'm paranoid.)
I'll also need to get new rearview mirrors, as the ones I have now are useless. And I'll probably buy a windshield sooner than I'd originally expected.
Motorcycling is about to become a very expensive part of my life.
It's worth it, though. The bike is such a chick magnet.
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9 comments:
Yeah, that's what I suspect. ;)
Do you give palomitas? When I was a kid, my dad had a motorcycle (no car). In the mornings, my mom and I would beg (well she'd ask, I'd beg) him to give us a ride around the block before work. We called it palomitas. I guess it is a chick magnet.
Just make sure the sunglasses aren't too dark. You might consider a tinted faceshield, that way you can open it one-handed when you find yourself in the shade, or the clouds temporarily block the sun. There are even faceshields that are tinted toward the top but gradually get clearer toward the lower half, much like a lot of car windshields.
For riding around town, you might consider reenforced jeans (there are a few brands, Draggin Jeans, Icon, Joe Rocket, etc.) designed for motorcycling. You'll look slightly less like a space alien. I have Joe Rocket Ballistic overpants, which have great armor and are waterproof -- you can wear jeans or even shorts underneath. But they're ridiculously hot in the summer. I have mesh First Gear stuff for warm weather, jacket and pants. The pants are ridiculously comfortable, but the alien factor is pretty high, especially with the whole suit zipped together. Around town I just wear jeans. I know people on the SV list said that knee and hip protection is really important, but I do have some low speed crash experience, and by far the most important parts have been the foot and ankle (real motorcycle boots are great for this) followed closely by the hands, forearms, and elbows. But we're talking about low-speed stuff. I've never had any kind of accident above 20 mph or so. For higher speeds, denim really doesn't have very good abrasion resistance, which is why I mention the moto-specific jeans. They all have kevlar or other abrasion-resistant panels, and I think some even have armor. I think I just sold myself a pair.
Palomitas: Once I'm more experienced, anyone who wants a ride before work (and who is willing to sign a waiver) will be allowed to have all the popcorn they want.
Pants: I saw some Joe Rocket pants (the Alter-Egos, I think) that look like they'll make decent over-pants for the summer. I expect I'll wind up with saddle bags on the bike, so I can, like, go to the beach, chuck the over-pants into the bags, and then chill out w/o looking like an alien. The main thing is that I'd eventually like to commute to work, and I can't wear jeans there, so I'll need something I can where over khakis or dress pants. I expect I'll wind up buying more than one pair of pants for all my various needs.
Bah, saddlebags are a pain. You often need them for long trips, but the stuff you have to go through to keep your paint from getting scratched... plus they're not secure, but taking them off and putting them back on is usually pretty involved. For everyday use almost everyone uses a tankbag and/or tailbag. For most of your needs, a tankbag will do. Some of the newer ones even convert into backpacks. And the magnetic ones install in about 1 second.
I haven't heard anything bad about the Alter Ego pants. I'm just convinced that they're too good to be true. One thing I don't like about my JR pants is that they don't zip off. The zippers go almost all the way up on each side, but not quite. So you find yourself standing in a parking lot pulling your pants down. It feels wrong.
The only tank bags I've seen look too small to hold much, but I haven't looked thoroughly yet.
Right now I'm set on buying either the JR Phoenix pants or the Alter Egos. According to the review on newenough.com, the AEs have a full length side zipper, but looking at the pic, I don't see how that's possible. On the phoenix pants, though, it looks like there really is a full length side zipper that runs right under the piping on the left leg. If the AE's really do have a full length zipper, then I'm getting those, and I'll report back on what I think of them. If not, I'm getting the phoenix pants, which'll mean I'll need to buy something else once the weather gets cooler.
Sorry, I found a link for SV stuff you may wish to kill your credit score with:
SV stuff from Twisted Throttle
Sweet!
And a correction on the AE pants. The review says, "The legs have long size zippers to allow you to use these pants as "overpants" so you can wear street clothes underneath if you like, and you won't have to find a place to change clothes to take them off--ideal for commuters." But with the zipper only going up to the knee, I'm unclear on how that makes them better than any other over-pant.
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